My sony HC-42 is a year and half old, used very little and store in the my office draw. One day, I turn on my touch screen does not works but by remote only. Wich it mean I could not change any thing even Date. Please help.
Victor, H

HI, DONT HIT YOUR CAMERA! I KNOW WHAT CAUSES THIS PROBLEM AND ITS EASY TO SORT OUT.
THE C31 ERROR CODES AND ALSO CASSETTE DOOR NOT OPENING PROPERLY IS USUALLY CAUSED BY A VERY FINE RESIDUE BUILDUP ON THE BATTERY TERMINALS AND THE ONES ON THE CAMERA AND ALSO THE MAINS SOCKET. THIS IS CAUSED BY DAMP,HUMID OR WET CONDITIONS. YOU NEED TO TAKE A VERY SMALL METAL OBJECT LIKE A NAIL FILE ETC AND SCRAPE ALL TERMINALS CLEAN AND THAT SHOULD DO THE TRICK. IT WORKED ON MY SONY CCD-TR515E CAMCORDER. KEITH

Anonymous wrote:

When I try to play or record on a tape it gives me a C:31:00 error code. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

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Service Mode Display
The service mode display shows up to six self-diagnosis codes shown in the past.

Display Method
While pressing the “STOP” key, set the switch from OFF to “VTR or PLAYER”, and continue pressing the “STOP” key for 5 seconds
continuously. The service mode will be displayed, and the counter will show the backup No. and the 5-character self-diagnosis codes.

Switching of Backup No.
By rotating the control dial, past self-diagnosis codes will be shown in order. The backup No. in the [] indicates the order in which the
problem occurred. (If the number of problems which occurred is less than 6, only the number of problems which occurred will be shown.)
[1] : Occurred first time [4] : Occurred fourth time
[2] : Occurred second time [5] : Occurred fifth time
[3] : Occurred third time [6] : Occurred the last time

End of Display
Turning OFF the power supply will end the service mode display.

Note: The self-diagnosis display data will be backed up by the coin-type lithium battery. When this coin-type lithium battery is
disconnected, the self-diagnosis data will be lost by initialization.